Boxing
Boxing: Himachal Pradesh High Court clears path for Anurag Thakur’s BFI election bid
Thakur, a Lok Sabha MP from Hamirpur, was previously ruled ineligible in a March 7 notification issued by BFI President Ajay Singh.
Former Sports Minister Anurag Thakur has been granted the opportunity to contest the Boxing Federation of India’s (BFI) presidential elections after the Himachal Pradesh High Court stayed his disqualification from the Electoral College.
The court also directed the BFI to extend the nomination deadline, ensuring his eligibility to file his candidature.
Thakur, a Lok Sabha MP from Hamirpur, was previously ruled ineligible in a March 7 notification issued by BFI President Ajay Singh. The reason cited was his lack of an elected position within the Himachal Pradesh Boxing Association (HPBA), which he sought to represent in the electoral process.
However, on Thursday, Justice Ajay Mohan Goel ruled that the March 13 Electoral College list, which excluded Thakur, was prima facie bad and not sustainable in law.” The court further stated that denying Thakur’s nomination could cause “irreparable loss” to the petitioners.
As an interim measure, the court stayed the March 7 notice and ruled that Thakur, along with HPBA official Rajesh Bhandari, must be considered valid candidates for the Electoral College. It also asserted that the BFI President acted “without any authority” in disqualifying them.
With this ruling, Thakur is now eligible to contest the BFI elections, scheduled for March 28, as the court instructed the federation to extend the nomination deadline. Additionally, he has been permitted to represent Himachal Pradesh in the BFI’s Annual General Meeting.
The HPBA has consistently maintained that Thakur is a legitimately elected Executive Council member of the state unit, having served in various leadership roles, including Chairman.
The BFI elections have faced repeated delays and legal disputes. Initially scheduled before February 2, the elections were stalled as the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) appointed an ad-hoc committee to oversee BFI operations. The BFI challenged this intervention in the Delhi High Court, which later stayed the ad-hoc panel’s authority.
This latest ruling from the Himachal Pradesh High Court follows a similar decision by the Delhi High Court, which also stayed the March 7 disqualification order but allowed the election process to continue, pending a final decision on a related plea by the Delhi Amateur Boxing Association.
